Birthday Blues
by J20TWENTY
Summary: It's Beast Boy's 15th Birthday, and he remembers a birthday 9 years ago. Contains RaBB - One Shot


Hello, this is J20TWENTY here with another story. It's been a long while since I last updated, but I finally got around to it. This one-shot story isn't very good (like my other stories too), but I needed to try and get back into the groove of writing again. So bear with it please and hopefully enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

Beast Boy sat down at the table, slowly stirring the bowl of cereal which stood half empty upon the table. Eating wasn't on the top of the list of things to do today, but he felt if he went through the motions then today would end quickly. He glanced up at the calendar which hung above the kitchen units.

'March 17th' he thought as he pushed away his bowl. He sat back on his chair, sighing and placing his hands behind his head. He focussed his eyes on the T.V which stood idly in the other room, toying with the idea of watching something. Suddenly, his sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps approaching the door. He spun around to find Raven opening the door, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She briskly walked in, giving Beast Boy a quick glance before fixing herself some tea.

"Morning Rae" Beast Boy said, smiling falsely. Raven turned to look at him briefly, before turning back to her kettle.

"Good Morning Beast Boy" she answered as she stirred the spoonful of sugar into her tea. Opening the fridge she grabbed a carton of milk and poured it into her tea, not noticing the disgusted expression on Beast Boy's face.

"Before you start, Beast Boy, I like milk and I'm going to drink it" she said without turning around. Beast Boy just huffed and sat back down, slouching deeper into the chair. His mind began to wander back when he was 6 years old, exactly 9 years ago. He closed his eyes to stop tears from escaping, especially in front of Raven.

• • •

Garfield Logan happily scooped up the last of his breakfast cereal, bubbling with excitement. His birthday has finally arrived, and he was going somewhere special with his parents. Only a few months ago he had fallen sick with some strange disease, causing the last few months to be a blur. With help from his father he had survived it, but it came with a cost. His skin had now become a light shade of green, as well as his once brown hair. But, being only 6 years old he gave no second thought to his green skin and hair.

"Good Morning son. I hope you finished all of your cereal" his father asked him as he walked into the kitchen.

"You bet. Now can I have some cake?" he asked hopefully, his eyes brimming with hope.

His father gave a small chuckle and shook his head. Garfield's face dropped, but he quickly regained his happy demeanour as he looked forward to his birthday cake.

• • •

Raven watched Beast Boy silently, giving up on trying to call him. She had been calling his name for the last few minutes or so, but to no avail.

'You'd think that with his extra hearing he could hear me' she thought to herself. She finished off the last of her tea and placed the empty cup in the sink. As she washed her cup she could hear Beast Boy stir behind her. She hazards a quick glance behind her to see the same dull and lifeless expression in his eyes, which were now locked onto her. Turning back she dried the cup before moving to sit down, opposite Beast Boy.

"What's wrong?" she asked, hopefully trying to get to respond. Beast Boy stirred at the words, debating with himself whether or not to tell her.

"Nothing really…except…well…" he stuttered, trying to choose his words carefully. Seeing the concerned look in Ravens eyes he continued.

"It's my birthday today" he said slowly, not looking her in the eyes. He suddenly found his plain grey gloves extremely interesting as he twisted his hands in his lap.

"Why didn't you tell us? After all, we all celebrated each other's…including mine" Raven asked. He didn't know why he didn't tell them, but he must have a reason.

'Something must have happened. Beast Boy makes a fuss over the smallest of things, and his birthday would be important to him' she thought.

"I don't like celebrating it. There's no point to them, they only say your one year older" he replied, trying to lie to her.

"Yeah, this is coming from someone who bought seven advent calendars…all to you for Christmas. I know this would be a big deal for you Beast Boy, but why don't you like celebrating?" she asked tentatively. She was walking on thin ice now, and she didn't want to upset and obviously fragile Beast Boy.

"Well, something happened on my sixth birthday and I guess I just stop celebrating it now" he answered truthfully. He didn't know why he was telling Raven this, but something about her made him feel he could trust her.

"What happened?" she asked. She didn't know why she was prying so much into Beast Boy's life, but she couldn't stand seeing him in this state.

"Well, about seven months before my sixth birthday I contracted a disease. One from which there were no known survivors. At this time we were living in Africa, that is me and my parents. The doctors couldn't do anything to save me, and they just gave up hope. Soon after they refused to treat me as they thought I was a lost cause" he said, while he tapped nervously on the wooden table. Raven just sat in awe, waiting for him to continue. She had always wondered why he was green but she didn't want to ask him and hurt his feelings.

"When my parents heard this they lost hope too. My mother turned to a crying wreck; she couldn't even look at me. Soon after she turned to drink and spent every night getting drunk and crying herself to sleep. But my father didn't want to accept my illness, and he soon found a way to help me. He was a geneticist, the reason why we moved out to Africa in the first place" he said, pausing to retain his composure.

Raven silently sat opposite him, watching him tell his story. She could it tell it was hard for him so she just let him tell it at his own pace. Beast Boy breathed in deeply and turned to his friend.

"He made a deal with the lab he was working with to save my life. If they could help me then they could keep all the data and credit on he experiments. Those experiments…they hurt but I suppose they were for my own good. That's what my father told me. I remember going to the lab one day and waking up like this" he said as he gestured to himself. He took off his gloves and stared at his green hands.

"This was the penalty for me surviving the disease. Being green. But…I am glad that I survived it, regardless that my skin is green. I could look forward to a happy life once again. After the first shock of me being green my parents came back to life. We went out and became a family again" he went on, looking ruefully at his hands.

"So that is how you turned green?" asked Raven. Beast Boy turned to look at her and nodded.

"Everything was cool, until my sixth birthday. I remember I was so happy that my birthday was here again. I ate my breakfast normally and I remember begging for some cake" Beast Boy said, chuckling to himself.

"We went out then, to a large lake near the small town where we lived. It was a pretty big tourist attraction, and at first my parents didn't want me to go. But I begged and begged them to go, and I had to have my own way…" he spat out as if it tasted badly.

• • •

"Mommy, their staring at me" Garfield pointed out, looking around to all the staring tourists.

"Just ignore them sweetie, we can't let them spoil our fun" she answered as she sunbathed next to the lake. Garfield's father leaned over to his wife.

"I knew this was a bad idea, Anne" he whispered softly, careful for his son not to hear.

Suddenly Garfield's ear twitched, plainly hearing his father as if he shouted.

"Hey, I wanted to come here" he shouted back. He was suddenly aware that he could smell a barbeque, nearly half a mile away. He could hear the sly remarks people were making behind his back, and he could see the opposite end of the lake almost 100 miles away. Frightened by this sudden change he frantically turned to his parents for help.

"Hey son, what's wrong?" his father asked, noticing the frightened look in Garfield's eyes.

"I…I…don't know…" he answered, clutching his head. Dropping to his knees, he couldn't hear his father's cries behind him. As his parent's rushed to his side he could feel his bones shaking, hurting him beyond belief.

"Ahhh…!" he screamed, clutching his ribs in agony. He was dimly aware of his parent's presence next to him, and the gathering people which surrounded him. Feeling as if was being ripped apart he cried out in pain. As he started to pass out from the pain he could hear the crowd screaming around him. And suddenly he heard his father next to him,

"Oh my God…"

• • •

"You passed out from the pain? What was the cause of it?" Raven asked, though she had some clue of what caused it.

"I was transforming, or shape-shifting if you wanna call it that. The only thing I knew at that time was it hurt" he answered, but he couldn't look at his friend.

"How could you change shape as you pass out?" she asked, trying not to upset him.

"I didn't pass out…I…guess I must have lost my mind. I wasn't in control of my body and I don't remember what I was doing while I changed…but my father explained everything when I woke up…" he answered as he stared at the grey table in front of him.

• • •

As Garfield slowly came to, he could feel himself being carried over someone's shoulder. As he stirred he lifted to take in his surroundings.

'I've been here before' he thought as he glanced from side to side.

"Hey son, wake up" he heard someone say. Turning his head he saw his father's concerned face, as he gently put his son down.

"Where I am?" Garfield asked, trying to work out what happened.

"We're in the basement, son. We need to stay in here for a while…there's a terrible storm outside…" his father answered him, pointedly looking at his wife sitting next to him.

"Yeah Gar, there's a big storm coming and we need to hide down here for a while" she told her son, tears welling up in her eyes.

"What happened?" Garfield asked, trying to remember. His mother turned away sobbing quietly while his father looked down.

"Well…you changed. You changed into something…a lion to be exact" his father told him.

"Changed…into…a lion? How? Why?" Garfield asked, frantically looking back and forth between his parents. He could still hear his mother crying while she looked away.

"It has something to do with your treatment. It seems that turning green wasn't the only side effect…" he father began.

"What do you mean dad?" Garfield asked, more confused than ever.

"Well, we concluded that animals could survive the illness you contracted. So…in order to cure you we found a way of combining your DNA with that of the animals" he answered. Seeing the vacant look in his son's face he tried to find another way of explaining it.

"Well, I'll explain that bit later. But as a result of this it seems you can turn into the animals we injected into you. That is what happened today" he said, sighing heavily as he finished his story. Garfield just sat there trying to take it all in. He couldn't except he turned into a lion.

'But I am green…' he thought to himself, 'a lion, they're very scary and-'. And then it hit him.

"Did I hurt anyone today?" he asked his father. At this his mother cried out, trying to contain her sobbing.

"No son…you didn't hurt anyone but you frightened a lot of people today and-" his father said but the sounds of shouting erupted outside interrupting him.

• • •

"I could hear them screaming outside. They were cries of murder, all after me. It was scary; I didn't know what to do so I just hid under a table in the basement. During the commotion someone threw a petrol bomb through the window…" Beast Boy said, pulling his knees up to his chest while he sat on the chair.

Raven was trying to piece together what Beast Boy was telling her. It seemed surreal that a little boy had to go through all of this.

"They set your house on fire?" she asked carefully. Beast Boy nodded before he continued.

"Yeah. The room became very hot and soon it was filled with smoke. I could hear my parents calling for me…but I was too afraid to come out from under the table" Beast Boy continued, tears slowly welling up in his eyes. Raven sat silently waiting for him to continue, she didn't want to upset him.

"The room started collapsing, I could hear it. The creaking started and then everything came down. I…I…couldn't hear my parents anymore. I called out to them but they didn't answer me, I could only hear the fire and feel the heat from it" Beast boy said. By this time he had his head in his hands, trying to compose himself.

"How did you manage to escape?" Raven asked as she got up and sat next to Beast Boy. She slowly put her hand on his shoulder in an act to comfort him.

"I don't remember. I think I changed trying to escape but all I can remember is waking up in the grass by myself" he continued.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Raven asked.

"Why should I? I didn't see the need to" he answered truthfully. After a moment's silence he looked up.

"I still didn't have any cake" he said sadly "My mother spent all morning making it. It was the last thing she gave me and I couldn't have it"

Raven sat quietly next to him, her hand still on his shoulder. She felt as if she wanted to do something for him.

'Hmmm, but what?' she asked herself. Suddenly it her.

"Beast Boy, would you like to come with me somewhere right now?" she asked him. He looked up at her smiling face, which was strangely calming.

"Sure, but where?" he asked. She shook her head slightly as she answered.

"It's a surprise" she said.

• • •

Ten minutes later they found themselves outside Raven's favourite café, the traffic bustling next to them. As Raven walked carelessly in Beast Boy found himself feeling apprehensive. Shrugging he walked in quickly to catch up with Raven. He found her at the counter talking to someone behind the bar, a pretty blond girl who turned to smile at him.

"Hey Beast Boy, sit down while I get some drinks okay?" Raven asked him. He simply nodded in return and went to find a seat. It was dark inside but he could see everything with his advanced vision. He heard Raven approach behind him, her footsteps lightly tapping the floor.

"Hey Beast Boy, um…I got something for you" she said, trying hard not to blush.

He turned to see her place a slice of cake down in front of, along with a glass of water.

"Happy Birthday" she said, smiling while still trying to stop from blushing.

Beast Boy's eye's welled up. Swallowing hard he smiled back at her, his eye's showing more thanks than he could ever say.

"Thanks Rae" he said as he slowly picked it up. He took a large bite out of it, savouring the taste. He offered her some but she shook her head as she blew the steam of her tea she had ordered. After he finished his cake he turned to her, smiling.

"Thanks Rae" he said simply.

"You already thanked me" she stated, but her smile gave her away. Beast Boy laughed gently, sipping the last of his water.

"So," he piped up "same time next year?" he asked hopefully. Raven shook her head gently.

"How about same time tomorrow?" she asked, looking down to cover her blush. Beast Boy smiled and looked away to cover his own blush.

"It's a date" he said softly.

There we go, finished. It isn't very good but I would like some feedback on it. All reviews are welcome and it makes me happy when I get more.


End file.
